This blog is about family, including those in my family tree, the primary focus, but also the family of faith, the family of community, and ultimately the family of man. It is a journey of discovery: Who they were, What they did (and Why), and When, Where, and How they lived.

Friday, February 23, 2018

In the news, Saturday, January 27, 2018

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Justice Ginsburg signals her intent to work for years more
In different circumstances, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg might be on a valedictory tour in her final months on the Supreme Court. But in the era of Donald Trump, the 84-year-old Ginsburg is packing her schedule and sending signals she intends to keep her seat on the bench for years. The eldest Supreme Court justice has produced two of the court’s four signed opinions so far this term. Outside court, she’s the subject of a new documentary that includes video of her working out. And she’s hired law clerks to take her through June 2020, just four months before the next presidential election.

U.S., Poland oppose gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany
The United States and Poland on Saturday took a strong stand against a planned gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany, saying it is part of a Kremlin scheme to politicize energy and undermine attempts to make Europe less dependent on Moscow.

Turkey advances offensive into Syrian Kurdish enclave
Fighting raged in northwestern Syria on Saturday as Turkish troops and allied militiamen tried to advance their week-long offensive in a Kurdish-controlled enclave, Syrian opposition activists said. The bombardment could be heard a few miles away from Afrin in the Turkish-controlled town of Azaz, where Associated Press journalists were on a media trip organized by the Turkish government and escorted by Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters taking part in the offensive.

German police break up Kurds’ protest of Turkish military op
German police broke up a protest rally of more than 20,000 Kurdish immigrants after participants refused to take down flags and symbols of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, German news agency dpa reported Saturday. The demonstrators had come to the western city of Cologne from all over Germany to protest Turkey’s recent military operation in a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria.

Israel slams bill to outlaw blaming Poles for crimes of WWII
Israeli leaders angrily criticized pending legislation in Poland that would outlaw blaming Poles for the crimes of the Holocaust, with some accusing the Polish government of outright denial Saturday as the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Mort Walker, whose ‘Beetle Bailey’ was a comic-page staple for decades, dies at 94
Mort Walker, whose “Beetle Bailey” comic strip followed the exploits of a lazy G.I. and his inept cohorts at the dysfunctional Camp Swampy, and whose dedication to his art form led him to found the first museum devoted to the history of cartooning, died Jan. 27 at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 94. The cause was pneumonia.

Confusion abounds at new U.S. Highway 2 roundabout
Shocker of the day: the new roundabout on U.S. Highway 2 is confusing drivers. Officials at the Washington state Department of Transportation say motorists on the highway are failing to yield to cars pulling out at the entrance of the Spokane Tribe Casino in Airway Heights.

Froma Harrop: A shutdown not to remember
By Groundhog Day, the government shutdown will have been largely forgotten. But the shutdown did highlight three realities for Democrats going forward. Reality No. 1: It’s not quite true that Republicans control both houses of Congress. Reality No. 2: Obtaining legal status for the so-called dreamers – immigrants brought to this country illegally as children – is a good cause. Closing the government over them is bad politics. Reality No. 3: The activist left isn’t totally on board for winning elections.

Sue Lani Madsen: No replacement for a father’s love
It’s called the “father factor.” It’s at the root of every negative cultural measure – children twice as likely to drop out of high school, more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, seven times more likely to become a teen pregnancy statistic.

Faith and Values: Paul Graves: A tower to nowhere
The Tower of Babel story (Genesis 11:1-9) has been interpreted in a number of ways over the centuries. I became aware of a new (to me) interpretation in the Nov. 8 issue of the Christian Century.

Bainbridge company banking on the health value of vitamin D
Perhaps the best pitch for Solius might be a glance to the sky on one of the Pacific Northwest’s sullen, drizzly, January mornings. Over the last few years the Bainbridge startup has been quietly working on a concept close to the hearts of many around Puget Sound come the region’s dreary winter months: finding a way to get a healthy dose of vitamin D.